BookDragon

Famous Adopted People by Alice Stephens + Author Interview [in Bloom]

27 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, North Korean, Repost

FAMOUS ADOPTED PEOPLE, A Story “In My Bones”: Q&A with Alice Stephens “Everyone, it seems, is telling our story but us,” observes Lisa Pearl, the Korean-born, Bethesda, Maryland-raised transracial adoptee protagonist in Alice Stephens’ debut novel, Famous Adopted People, which hits shelves on October 16. The author, who describes...

The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria by Alia Malek [in Library Journal]

26 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Arab, Arab American, Audio, Memoir, Middle Eastern, Nonfiction, Repost, Syrian, Syrian American

American by birth, Syrian by parentage, journalist and civil rights lawyer Alia Malek (A Country Called Amreeka) has the cultural and linguistic fluency to be both insider and outsider in either country. Through four generations of extended family stories – from her wealthy businessman great-grandfather...

Small Country by Gaël Faye, translated by Sarah Ardizzone [in Library Journal]

24 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Audio, European, Fiction, French, Hapa/Mixed-race, Memoir, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW French singer/rapper Gaël Faye transforms his own background into an impressive, searing coming-of-age first novel about a Burundian family's implosion during the 1990s. What seemed like an idyllic, privileged childhood for 10-year-old Gabriel – made memorable by mischievous adventures with close friends – begins...

Option Now, Film Soon! [in East Wind ezine]

20 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian, Indian American, Korean, Korean American, North Korean, South Asian American, Taiwanese, Taiwanese American, Young Adult Readers

While texting with a (much younger) Korean American friend the other day about meeting at the movies, I gave her two choices: CRA or Searching. I was all giddy on my end, thinking how phenomenally lucky we were to have TWO APA choices, but my...

Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh [in Booklist]

19 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Latin American, Latina/o/x, Mexican, Mexican American, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Surviving a life-threatening journey from Mexico to a “strange city” in the U.S., Juan joins his uncle and three cousins. He owes his low-wage, 12-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week restaurant job to a boss who insists he’s “doing [Juan] a favor because [he] had no papers.” Although he’s...

Kafkaesque: Fourteen Stories by Peter Kuper [in Booklist]

18 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories, Young Adult Readers

Eisner-winning Peter Kuper’s career of “translating Kafka into comics” began in 1995, when his initial collection of nine shorts hit shelves, with Give It Up! He adds another five here, scrambles the previous order, and includes his “Kuperesque” foreword, emphasizing how, since Kafka’s death at...

Famous Adopted People by Alice Stephens [in Booklist]

17 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, North Korean, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW “Everyone, it seems, is telling our story but us,” observes Lisa Pearl, the Korean-born, Bethesda, Maryland-raised transracial adoptee protagonist in Alice Stephens’ debut novel. The author, who describes herself as being “among the first generation of transnational, interracial adoptees,” takes charge with a tale...

Our Woman in Havana: Reporting Castro’s Cuba by Sarah Rainsford [in Booklist]

14 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, British, Cuban, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Two timely books titled Our Woman in Havana hit shelves this year: a memoir by U.S. diplomat Vicki Huddleston and this account by former BBC Cuba correspondent (2011-2014) Rainsford, who was “guided by the writing of another English visitor seduced by Havana,” novelist Graham Greene. A...

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje [in Library Journal]

13 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Canadian, European, Memoir, Repost, Sri Lankan American

*STARRED REVIEW "Ours was a family with a habit for nicknames, which meant it was also a family of disguises," 14-year-old Nathaniel, aka Stitch, reveals early in Michael Ondaatje's newest fiction. Narrator Steve West – London-born like Ondaatje's protagonist – confidently takes Nathaniel from bewildered teenager...

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith [Beartown 2] [in Library Journal]

12 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Swedish

*STARRED REVIEW Everything that happens in this resonating sequel to Beartown is revealed in the first two pages. But listeners will want to hear every word to discover how the events play out – better yet, they'll want to absorb every echoing nuance brilliantly embodied by...

Friday Black: Stories by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah [in Booklist]

11 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW Adjei-Brenyah’s dozen stories are disturbingly spectacular, made even more so for what he does with magnifying and exposing the truth. At first read, the collection might register as speculative fiction, but current headlines unmasking racism, injustice, consumerism, and senseless violence prove to be clear...

The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar [in Library Journal]

10 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Arab, Arab American, Audio, Fiction, Repost, Syrian, Syrian American

Two interwoven stories illuminate and haunt here, both about fatherless girls attached to mapmakers, each blurring gender lines, both enduring peripatetic, precarious journeys to reach family and safety. Twelve-year-old Nour commands her contemporary story – Manhattan-born, father lost to cancer, taken to Syria with two sisters...

The Pisces by Melissa Broder [in Library Journal]

07 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Essayist/poet Melissa Broder voiced her previous audiobooks So Sad Today and Last Sext, and she's the natural choice to narrate her first novel. She reads here with firm, measured precision, determined to keep moving forward steadily, as if she knows she's got a page-turner listeners...

Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora [in Shelf Awareness]

06 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Repost

From an open window of a top-floor apartment on "the corner of First Street and Long Street" comes a most delicious smell. Omu (pronounced AH-moo) is preparing "a thick red stew in a big fat pot for a nice evening meal." Certain that "[t]onight's dinner...

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson [in Shelf Awareness]

04 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Black/African American, Caribbean, Caribbean American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW "[T]he school wanted to try something new: Could they put [six] kids together in a room with one teacher and make something amazing?" For Ms. Laverne's fifth/sixth grade Brooklyn, N.Y., class, the answer is a resounding yes. Deemed "special kids," Haley, Holly, Ashton, Amari,...

Time Traveling Audiobooks for Youth [in The Booklist Reader]

03 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Black/African American, European, Fiction, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Pacific Islander, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Time travel, time paradoxes, time shells, time hollows – are they fantasy? Reality? The following titles are billed as fiction, but they're also a look into endless possibilities. Last week, we brought you audiobooks about time travel for adults, but it's time (sorry) younger readers got...

Five More to Go: Crystal Hana Kim’s If You Leave Me [in The Booklist Reader]

30 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Lists, Repost, Translation

I got to get this started for The Booklist Reader ...

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin [in Shelf Awareness]

24 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Little Star and her Mama are such good bakers that Mama must remind Little Star once more to curb her appetite: "Can you remember not to touch this Big Mooncake until I tell you to?" Little Star's immediate agreement lasts through teeth brushing, face...

Time Traveling Audiobooks [in The Booklist Reader]

23 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Lists, Repost

Time manipulation – obsession with, desire for, and attempts at – is a timeless conundrum and, thus far, an elusive temptation. Our ever-waxing fascination is evident in classic stories and sci-fi favorites. Contemporary pop culture continues to feed the frenzy, from Harry Potter and the Prisoner...

White Houses by Amy Bloom [in Library Journal]

17 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

“I sound like the hayseed I am and the smoker I was and the drinker that I expect I’ll continue to be,” Lorena Hickok describes herself. With her raspy, no-nonsense delivery, Tonya Cornelisse embodies “Hick,” the real-life lover, confidante, and intimate friend of Eleanor Roosevelt....

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